Baton Music / ba / SWB20
Piano Concerto in A Minor
Edward Grieg / Carlo Balmelli
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Edvard Grieg composed his piano concerto in A minor, probably out of admiration for Robert Schumann's music, based on the piano concerto or was at least inspired by it. It is therefore no coincidence that Grieg's concerto was also composed in the key of A minor. Grieg also wrote his concerto in three movements, based on the classic sentence forms. What is special, however, is the opening of the concert, in which Grieg completely foregoes an introduction to the orchestra. The concert is opened only by a timpani roll before the piano begins with downward chords and thus leads to the main theme. Hugo Wolf still had negative comments about Grieg's piano concerto in 1885 and said: "The work is at most suitable for lulling lines of glasses in dreams or arousing rhythmic feelings in trained bears". Wolf should not be right, the piece was well received by the audience at the premiere and soon became one of the most important works in his genre.
Level: S6E6
